Increasingly, vehicles are being equipped with enhanced safety and communication functionality to assist drivers and improve operation. Examples of active safety systems include collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control, lane departure systems, and parking assistance systems, while enhanced communication functions may be provided by onboard telematics and GPS systems. However, the safety systems and communication systems typically do not interact with one another.
Despite these systems, drivers must still undertake a number of quick observations and actions to prevent or mitigate potentially unsafe situations. One example of an unsafe situation is the unexpected door opening by an occupant in a parked vehicle. If a door unexpectedly opens in the path of an oncoming vehicle, an accident may occur. However, conventional active safety systems do not contemplate these situations, nor are they able to predict such action by the occupant in the other vehicle. Unexpected door openings are also a concern to cyclists and pedestrians.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved vehicle safety systems that prevent collisions, particularly door collisions as an occupant enters or exits the vehicle. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.